Tesla engineers are leaving the electric car company to join Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI. Since xAI’s official launch last summer, three former Tesla engineers have made the move to join the AI company. One of them is Ethan Knight, a machine-learning scientist who was previously working on computer vision for Tesla’s self-driving technology.
Musk initially accused OpenAI of aggressively recruiting Tesla engineers with high compensation offers, which led him to raise salaries for members of Tesla’s AI engineering team in response. However, Musk has been vocal about wanting greater control over Tesla’s AI strategy. In a post on X in January, Musk expressed discomfort with expanding Tesla’s AI and robotics capabilities without controlling a quarter of the voting bloc. These comments were seen as an ultimatum by some investors, with some describing them as bizarre and amounting to blackmail.
Overall, Musk’s efforts to gain more control over Tesla’s AI strategy have raised eyebrows and sparked debate within the industry. While competition for AI talent is fierce in the tech industry, Musk has been able to attract top talent from companies like Tesla by offering higher salaries and greater autonomy.
